Richard Wanambwa, who runs the Kampala based online publication “www.eagle.co.ug”, was on October 11, 2024 arrested on charges of extortion, blackmail, cyber harassment, obtaining money by false pretense and defamation, according, the Uganda Police said.
Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesman Luke Owoyesigire said in a statement on the police official social media handles;
“This afternoon, police from KMP EAST arrested Mr. Wanambwa Richard of the Eagle Online publication due to multiple allegations of extortion and cyber harassment. Our team is collaborating with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the suspect shall, in due course, be produced in court. ”
According to sources close to the investigation, Mr. Wanambwa was arrested after he fell into a police trap when he went to pick the ransom money he was demanding from the people he had deliberately slandered on his other several websites as a condition to pull the stories down.
Police sources further say that Mr. Wanambwa has been extorting several individual Ugandans and organizations, including foreign investors and even dignitaries.
“The game of the trade was to make up stories and then demand for ransoms to bring them down even when the victims had given him the real facts,” a police officer said.
Accordingly, Mr. Wanambwa is accused of then, creating new websites, where he would transfer those same fake stories, and the cycle of extortion would begin again, police sources say.
He was so confident of his trade that after being paid to pull down the story, he would transfer the same stories claiming that those were not his stories but that he knew the publishers who demanded for money.
“He did this over and over. Little did he know that all along the police were tracking him down. The police let this go on for some time so they could understand methods of his operation and his entire network. It took them several months to confirm the details of all involved before making the arrest, a source close to the operation said.
The Deputy Director for the Police Criminal Investigations Directorate, Mr. Mark Odongo confirmed that Mr. Wanambwa was tracked down after several complaints from investors, business executives, and members of the general public.
Several cases are registered at the CID with authorities suspecting Mr. Wanambwa has collected over UGX. 500 million this year from multiple individuals .
According to Odongo, Mr. Wanambwa was so reckless that he would concoct a fake story about an innocent individual, creates a new website, publishes it there, and then starts harassing the victim to pay so that the story is taken down .
He would even enter into arrangements with the victims he termed as protection agreement signed by himself with his biometric consent where they would be compelled to pay him every month . “He had no clue that all these agreements were traps meant to expose him and his team of funders, runners, and coconspirators,” police sources say.
Police sources indicate that over the months, their detectives have established that there is a wider network that is coordinated by Mr Wanambwa.
“There are sponsors who fund him, especially those that want to tarnish others. There are publishers who he pays for the publications to ensure that the disinformation goes viral to achieve the desired outcome.
There are runners who look for the victims, and there is Wanambwa and others at large who enjoy the loot! He had turned blackmail with the primary aim of extorting into a career, and we couldn’t keep a blind eye .We must stamp out this criminality from media fraternity,” Odongo said.
